Machine for stacking and arranging biscuits and the like



Aug. 8, 1933. J. c. PATERSON ET AL 0 MACHINE FOR STACKING AND ARRANGINGBISCUITS AND THE LIKE Filed Aug. 26, 1931 2 sheetsvsheet 1 INT/EN TOPSJOH/V CUR/PIEPAZEJPSQZV GEOPGEEALPHBAKEE ATTORNEY the stackingoperation.

Patented 8:, 19:33 7 i 9 r v a i UNITED STATES PATENT o1=F cE; i l 1,921,580 t V MACHINE FOR STACKING AND ARRANGING BISCUITS AND THE LIKE johnCurrie Paterson and George Ralph Baker, Willesden, London, England,assignors to Baker Perkins Company, Inc., Saginaw, Mich., a Coreporation of New York A Application August- 26',1931, Serial No. 559,477;

; and in Great Britain September 3, 1930 3 Claimsf (01. 198-30) 1 Thisinvention relates to the arranging and and sorting means This web maycomprise the stacking of biscuits or the like'and has particulardelivery web of a continuous biscuit plant rereference to machines orappliances of the type ceiving its drive from-such plantmv 3 wherein thebiscuits or likearticles (hereinafter a The biscuits are delivered onthe conveyor or 5 referred to as biscuits) are transferred from one 'Web3 in any convenientmanner and may lie conveyor to another and arrangedin defined files thereon without regard to order or alignment orlines-in order to facilitate the picking up or but preferably so thatthey are all face up. gathering 'of the biscuits by hand for packing Thebiscuits fed over the roll 2 are received purposes, a I i j 1 V 'upona-fixed bar or knifef extending across the V One object of the presentinvention is to promachine, the upper'surface of theibar being ini videan improved method of and means for clined downwardly in the directionof feed. The receiving biscuits fed forward, in a haphazard aligningmeans are disposediorwardly of this manner,- and aligningthem orarranging them bar and comprise. a downwardly inclined plate more orless uniformly in defined files prior to orchute 5, the surface' ofwhich at the rear edge 'isfpreferably somewhat lower thanthe bar ad- ,701 Another object is to provide an improved and ja thereto 50 as toprovide'an ab up p simplified mode of mounting the aligning bars forthe; biscuits, Theyforward edge of the plate which define the rows organgways along which 5 ,fis disposed adjacent the surfaceof a con-l thebiscuits proceed, so that they may readily veyor band 6 hereinafterreferred to. i 5 be removed and replaced in the desired spacing {Theplate is providedwith aseries of splines according to the size or shapeof biscuits being u d bars .7 ran p l a ther n; t l t; i and forming aseries of gangways. of ,paths 8. o According to one feature of theinvention, in The Splines y b i l f o t on OI the arranging or stackingof buscuits, the bisd ,;,'w Seen Figure ft t 25 cults are fed to atransversely reciprocating delead" gends are more orless in line withthe Q vice adapted to afford changingopportunities for rearward'ends oftheadjacent splines; the biscuits to align or arrange themselves in de-vThe uppersurfaces of; the splinesat their rear fined files suitable forcollection or stacking. ends are level; with or slightly lower than theThe transversely reciprocating device may Surface of the fixed bar 4 sothat,there1is' no comprise a reciprocating plate having parallelObstruction w the flow of the biscuits, and their tooneconvenient mode apair of brackets or supbeing dealt with.

partitions, the'moving openings between which depth, increases t wardtheir forward ends, so afford changing opportunities for the biscuits tothat the gangways or paths 8 deepenin the dialign or arrange themselvesin the defined files. rection fjfeed of the biscuits, "the arrangernentj According to a-further feature of the invention being such that theinclination of any biscuits the pathways are defined by bars, certain ofwhich mayfrest. on or against the splines will which maybe readilyremovable and located in gra ually increase so that finally theyfislidedown position by engagement of their ends with other into one of thepathways. a 1 bars or relatively fixed parts by a slotted tenon Theplate 5 carrying the splines is mounted connection. 7 upon a ,pairvf'ofbars 9, 10, of which one, 9; is I Further features of the invention willbe herefixed, and the other lq, is adapted toj reciprocate inafterdescribed and defined in the claims. I transversely-"Qi thedirectionoffth feedbf he i In the accompanying drawings: biscuits."'The'reciprocatingbar 10' is' provided Figure 1 shows in elevation amachine accordwith a pair of holesbr' recesse s ll to accommo ing to theinvention suitable for applying to date pins or projections '12 on'theplate 5 wherethe end of a continuous biscuit plant. a v bythe movementsof the bar are communicated Figure 2 shows'a corresponding plan. toltheplate. By thisarrangement'the plate may- Figure 3 is a diagrammatic sideelevation of be readily removed and anoth'erfhaving differa unitaryaligning and stacking'machine. ently spacedsplines 7, placed in positionaccord-1 In carrying the invention into effect according linggto.thenature, size and shape'of the: biscuits ports 1 is provided having are-entrant angle The reciprocation of the bar 10 and conse-j i inwhichthe biscuit aligning means is mounted. quently the aligning plate 5may be efiected by At the outer end of thebrackets a web roll 2 anysuitable means such as cam actuated levers, ismounted which is adaptedto support a feeding means preferably* beingfincluded so that the web;which delivers the biscuits tome aligning amplitude of thereciprocationsfmay'be varied.

tion may be equal to the pitch or distance between the axes of adjacentgangways.

Biscuits arriving at the forward end of the aligning chute are receiveduponthefeeding lap of the conveyor 6 which delivers them over a crestand onto an inclined plate 19 down which they slide to suitable stackingmeans. This conveyor is provided with supporting guide rolls 20 wherebythe forward lap is inclined upwardly at the desired angle, and also withdriving and tensioning rolls 21, 22 respectively. ing roll 21 is mountedon the same spindle 23 as the cam 13 so that. the speed of thetransverse reciprocations of the plate 5. is synchronizedwith theforward feed of the files of biscuits when the latter arebeing carriedby the conveyor 6.

Splines or bars 24 are mounted above the feed ing lap of the conveyor 6so that they rest thereon or are slightly raised therefrom. The spacingof the bars conforms with that of-the bars 7 whereby the biscuits willbe maintained in their respective files as determined by the aligningmeans 5. The splines 24 are mounted in such a manner that their endsadjacent the bars 7 will partake of the reciprocations of th bars 7 ashereinafter referred to.

The stacker may comprise a rotary" paddle Wheel or like device having'aseries of radial'paddles or arms 25, preferably curved on their forwardfaces which are adapted to receive the his.-

cuits and cause them to be fed forwardin a more or less vertical orstacked condition, each biscuit being tucked in at the rear of thepreceding one. The rear faces of the paddles may be substantiallyradial." The arms or paddles of the wheel are separated by a series ofsaw cuts or spaces 26. U

The stacker wheel co-operates with" a comb plate 27 which is setapproximately in a'horizo'ntal plane, its upper surface being disposedat or about" the level of the axis of the paddle wheel. The teeth of thepaddle wheel'are arranged to pass downwardly through the slots in thecomb The plate or table28 adjacent theicomb plate is utilized tocarryvertical division guides or fences 29 which arefixed thereto andare adapted to maintain the files of biscuits separate as they pass fromthe feed conveyor or web 6 over the stacking mechanism to the deliveryconveyor. The plate 28 (with the associated guides) which together arereferred to in. the claims as aguide way element, is made removable sothat another plate with guides spaced to suit the size and shape of thebiscuits being stacked maybe readily fixed in position. The biscuits onthe delivery web are finally taken away by the operator and packed in.tins or otherwise dealt with;

The guide bars or fences areprovided throughout the distance between thepoint of delivery of The driv- :7

the biscuit-aligning chute.- or plate 5Ito the forward end of theconveyor which carries away the stacked biscuits, whereby the biscuitsare maintained and guided along the correct files.

Two series of bars are provided, the central series 29 (associated withthe stacking means) fixed to the table plate 28, and constituting asecond guideway element which is readily movable as described above, andthe'series 24 associated with the conveyor 6 which extends between theends of the guide bars '7 and the guide bars 29. The. series 24 aremounted in' a readily removable f manner and are preferably-held inposition-by the engagement of their endswith the ends of the adjacent'guideway. elements. Thus, the bars 24 are formed wedge shaped at oneend and engage in- V-grooves' or notches cut in the corresponding'bars'lof thealigning device. At their other end the bars 24 are notched toreceive the wedge shaped ends of the bars 29. appreciated that thosemovable fences 24 will have a transverse vibratory or pivoting movementimparted by thereciprocation of the biscuit aligning deviceandfor thispurpose the notches are opened out or shapedso that'a' relatively'loosefit is provided. l

The loose tenon form of connection also permits the splines or bar 24 torest freely upon the surface of the web 6. V

The various fences and guide bars may be formed of spring steelorothersuitable material. In operation biscuits are 'fed by the conveyor3 over the roll 2 and slide onto the'inclined bar or knife 4. Thebiscuits sliding down the-knife 4 will be delivered to the splinedaligning plate 5 which owing to its reciprocation will present to theoncoming biscuits a constantly changing opportunity to arrange or alignthemselves in the files or spaces 8 defined by the splines 7. More:over, any biscuits lodging on the top of the splines will automaticallybe pushed into aspace 8 by the oncoming biscuits, since the splines 7are inclined to the direction of feed. 1 p

When the biscuits in their various files reach the lower end of theplate or chute 5they are received upon the. conveyor band 6 and carriedupwardly over the crest provided by the support: ing roll 20 andthenceslide down the knife plate 19 of the stacker wheel. The paddles 25of this wheel receive the biscuits successivelyand cause them to standonedge and be tucked in one behind the other. The paddles also advanceor feed the biscuits in a more or less vertical position over the combplate 27 and onto the fixed tablej28 until finally they reach thedischarge conveyor. This'conveyor carries the stacked biscuits to aposition where they are removed by hand or otherwise dealt with. 1 Inthe modified form of the machine as shown in Figure 3 which comprises aself-contained ma- I chine, the feed conveyor is replaced by a part ofthe feeding lap of the conveyor which delivers the aligned files ofbiscuits to the stacker. Beneath the aligningchute 5 guide rolls30, 31are provided. A third roll 32 is mounted at the outward edge of a table33. Table 33 is pivoted at-the axisof the roll 2; v

The upper lap of the conveyor 34passes over the rolls 32 and 2 andthence beneath the guide rolls 30, 31 and then upwardly overthe roll 20;

The return lap passes around thetensioning roll 22, the driving ou 21and back to the guide rolls The forward lap of the conveyor is thusprovided with a pair of feeding sections 34a, 34bsep- It Will be aratedby a non-feeding section extending below 1,921,580 the aligning chute 5so that the conveyor feeds the biscuits to the aligning and file formingdevice'and then again receives them and delivers them to the stackingdevice. I

The table 33 is adapted to be hinged over onto the framework of themachine for moving.

It will beunderstood that the biscuitsmay be delivered to the feedingsection 34a of the conveyor in any desired manner.

According to a modified arrangement of the biscuit aligning device,instead of being fixed to the plate or chute 6, the bars or splines 7may be separate therefrom and their lower or'forward ends may be fixedin position. The upper ends of the bars 7. will then be attached to asuitable reciprocating device to give the bars a pivotal movement abouttheir lower ends. In such case the removable fences 24 would bestationary.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim and desire to secureby Letters Patent is:

1. In a machine for arranging and stacking bis-g cuits, in combination,guideway elements spaced apart lengthwise of the machine, longitudinalpartitions mounted on said guideway elements, each guideway elementbeing removable as a unit, and loose bars intermediate the guidewayelements between the ends of the partitions adapted to be deofthemachine and comprising longitudinal par titions, a plurality ofinterchangeable bars supcuits, guideway elements spaced apart lengthwiseported by and resting on an endless conveyor band and positioned thereonby the engagement of their ends with the ends of said partitions in,vertical tongue-and-groove joints.

3. A machine for arranging or stackingbiscuits provided with apluralityof guideway elements spaced apart lengthwise of the machine andhaving longitudinal partitions, and loose bars intermediate the guidewayelements detachably connected by-means of loose tenon joints to thepartitions thereof.

GEORGE RALPH BAKER;

JOHN CURRIE PATERSON. V

'iso

